Filter tubes, such as nonwoven fibrous filter tubes, wherein the fibers are bonded together by a bonding agent, such as glass fibers which are bonded together using a hardenable resin, or other agent, are typically employed to filter fluids, such as gases and liquids. In some applications, one or more of such filter tubes are mounted in one or more filter tube holders and positioned within an external filter tube housing to form a filter tube assembly, so that one or a plurality of filter tubes may be employed to filter a fluid stream. The fluid to be filtered is then introduced into the interior or exteriorly of the filter tube and the fluid is filtered by passage through the filter tube wall.
Standard commercial filter tube holders typically require fabrication from rather expensive machined component parts, which parts require rather close machine tolerances. Such filter tube holders and the filter assemblies prepared therefrom are often in addition complex and difficult to assemble in the field, while the filter tube holders are not easily mounted on a flat sheet filter plate within the filter assembly. In addition, the surface of the sealing or mounting plate about the passageway often must be machined smooth to insure a fluid-tight seal of the lower end of the filter tube to the plate surface. Therefore, there exists a need for a rather simple, inexpensive, easily fabricated and assembled filter tube holder employed in a filter tube assembly.